Movie review: Alex Cross

Let me preface this review by letting you know I don’t have any background with the Alex Cross stories. I’m coming into this as a newbie. As a newbie I thought this movie left a lot to be desired.

First, the good stuff: I thought Tyler Perry was decent as Dr. Alex Cross. Nothing extraordinary but a solid performance. The bad guy – Matthew Fox as Picasso – was also just decent. But I don’t think the shortcomings of Fox’s performance were really his fault. I’ll hang this one on the director/writers. I thought he played angry more than crazy. I think back to other psychopaths who were really convincing and it seems that the performance needs someone who is cold and not angry.

The real issue I have with the movie is the story. It felt like it was put together by randomly picking from the thriller tree of plots. Take a psychopath, make him an assassin, kill a pretty girl, make it personal with the detective, throw in some international business angle, blah, blah, blah.

I would be very curious if the Alex Cross fans enjoy this movie. But I can’t imagine than many newbies are going to like it.